pleiotropy
/plaɪˈɒtɹəpi/
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cot caught merger/plaɪˈɑtɹəpi/
pleiotropy noun: the influence of a single gene on multiple phenotypic traits; pleiotropism.
Noun
pleiotropy (countable and uncountable, plural pleiotropies)
- The influence of a single gene on multiple phenotypic traits; pleiotropism.
- This experimental design is analogous to the experiment that we performed to test whether antagonistic pleiotropy operates as a genetic mechanism in the evolution of late-life mortality rate plateaus.2011, Laurence D. Mueller, Casandra L. Rauser, Michael R. Rose, Does Aging Stop?, Oxford University Press, page 65
- George C. Williams (1957) first developed the idea that pleiotropy might be an important determinant of senescence. Pleiotropy simply means that single genes have multiple effects. With regard to aging, Williams proposed that the same genes could have beneficial effects early in life but...2015, Lynnette L. Sievert, “Chapter 22: Human Senescence”, in Michael P. Muehlenbein, editor, Basics in Human Evolution, Elsevier (Academic Press), page 315
- Antonyms:
- polygeny
- The existence of drug effects (especially beneficial effects) other than the one for which the drug was designed.
pleiotropy meaning in Tamil and Malayalam
pleiotropy in Tamil
- பல்திருப்பவுண்மை
pleiotropy in Malayalam
- ബഹുലക്ഷണത
Examples of pleiotropy in a sentence
- Williams (1957) first developed the idea that pleiotropy might be an important determinant of senescence.2015, Lynnette L. Sievert, “Chapter 22: Human Senescence”, in Michael P. Muehlenbein, editor, Basics in Human Evolution, Elsevier (Academic...
- I think what people are really asking when they talk about pleiotropy is this idea of genetic trade-offs.2025 August 7, Ross Douthat, quoting Noor Siddiqui, “The Next Parenting Trend Starts Before Conception”, in The New York Times:
Antonyms of pleiotropy
Forms of pleiotropy
| plural | pleiotropies |
|---|
Origin of pleiotropy
Coined by German zoologist Ludwig Plate in 1910, from Ancient Greek πλείων (pleíōn) + -tropy; by surface analysis, pleio- + -tropy.
Questions about pleiotropy
- What does pleiotropy mean?
- Pleiotropy means the influence of a single gene on multiple phenotypic traits; pleiotropism.
- What is pleiotropy in Tamil?
- Pleiotropy in Tamil is பல்திருப்பவுண்மை. See Pleiotropy meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use pleiotropy in a sentence?
- Williams (1957) first developed the idea that pleiotropy might be an important determinant of senescence.
- What part of speech is pleiotropy?
- Pleiotropy is a noun.
- How do you pronounce pleiotropy?
- Pleiotropy is pronounced /plaɪˈɒtɹəpi/.
- What is the plural of pleiotropy?
- The plural of pleiotropy is pleiotropies.
Words near pleiotropy in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: pleiotropy (page history and authors); pleiotropy (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); pleiotropy (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-pleiotropy.wav.
Cite this entry: “pleiotropy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pleiotropy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.